Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995) Notices Bargaining Council for the Metal and Engineering Industries Main Collective Agreement Part 1 : Conditions of Employment 3. Definitions

 

Any reference in this Agreement to the Republic of South Africa and/or the Provinces of the Cape of Good Hope, the Transvaal, Natal and the Orange Free State shall be deemed to be the Magisterial Districts of those areas and/or provinces as they existed immediately prior to the coming into operation of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 (Act 200 of 1993).  Any expressions used in this Agreement which are defined in the Labour Relations Act, 1995, shall have the same meaning as in that Act, and any reference to an Act shall include any amendments to such Act; further, unless inconsistent with the context—

 

"abnormally dirty work"

means work in connection with diesel engines from the cross-head down, used marine boilers, furnaces, combustion chambers, smokeboxes, in bilges and in fuel tanks, performed on board ship;

 

"Act"

means the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act 66 of 1995);

 

"apprentice"

means an employee serving under a written contract of apprenticeship registered or deemed to have been registered under the Manpower Training Act, 1981 and includes a minor employed on probation in terms of the Act or a trainee in terms of the Atrami Agreement as well as a learner in terms of Chapter IV of the Skills Development Act, No.97 of 1998;

 

"continuous employment"

means any period during which an employee has been continuously employed by the same employer, and for this purpose periods of employment with the same employer broken by not more than 12 months from date of termination of employment to re-engagement of the employee owing to the discharge or retrenchment of the employee by the employer shall be deemed to be continuous employment, but shall not apply for the purposes of calculating severance pay entitlement.

[Substituted by Government Notice R.268 dated 12 April 2013]

 

"CCMA"

means the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration established in terms of Section 112 of the Act;

 

"Council"

means the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council registered in terms of clause 29 of the Act;

 

"day shift"

means, subject to the definition herein covering "two-shift system" and "three-shift system", any period worked by an employee between the hours of 06:00 and 18:00 on Mondays to Fridays, inclusive, and any period  worked between the hours of 06:00 and 12:00 on Saturdays.

 

"employee"

means an employee whose minimum rate of pay is scheduled in this Agreement or an employee employed under exemption from this Agreement or under conditions determined by the Council, or an apprentice;

 

"employer"

means any person whosoever, including a temporary employment service as defined in clause 198(1) of the Act, who employs or provides work for any person and remunerates or expressly or tacitly undertakes to remunerate him or who permits any person whosoever in any manner to assist him in the carrying on or conducting of his business;

 

"employ of the same employer" and "employment with the same employer"

shall, for the purposes of clause 12(3)(a) and clause 13(1) of Part 1 of this Agreement, include unbroken employment in the same business carrying out activities which fall within the industry, whether or not the ownership of that business has altered as a result of sale, change of control, amalgamation, reconstruction, liquidation, compromise with creditors or otherwise;

 

"establishment"

means any premises wherein or whereon the industry, or part thereof, as herein defined, is carried on;

 

"hourly rate"

means the rate per hour for the class of work scheduled in this Agreement or, the actual rate per hour the employee is receiving whichever is the greater: Provided that where a "rate per week" is specified, the hourly rate of the employee shall be his rate per week for his class of work scheduled in this Agreement or the actual weekly rate of the employee, whichever is the greater, divided by the number of ordinary hours worked in the establishment concerned;

 

"ordinary hourly rate"

means the hourly rate for ordinary time;

 

"Iron, Steel, Engineering and Metallurgical Industry"

means (subject to the provisions of any demarcation determination made in terms of section 62 of the Labour Relations Act, No 66 of 1995 and section 76 of the Labour Relations Act, 1956) the industry concerned with the production of iron and/or steel and/or alloys and/or the processing and/or recovery and/or refining of metals (other than precious metals) and/or alloys. from dross and/or scrap and/or residues; the maintenance, fabrication, erection or assembly, construction, alteration, replacement or repair of any machine, vehicle (other than a motor vehicle) or article consisting mainly of metal (other than a precious metal) or parts or components thereof, and structural metalwork, including steel reinforcement work; the manufacture of metal goods principally from such iron and/or steel and/or other metals (other than precious metals) and/or alloys, and/or the finishing of metal goods; the building and/or alteration and/or repair of boats and/or ships, including the scraping, chipping and/or scaling and/or painting of the hulls of boats and/or ships; and general woodwork undertaken in connection with ship repairs, and includes the Electrical Engineering Industry, the Lift and Escalator Industry and the Plastics Industry, but does not include the Motor Industry.

For the purposes of this definition—

“(1)        

means the industry concerned with—

[Definition substituted by Government Notice R.899 of 11 September 2009].

means the industry in which employers and the employees are associated for any or all of the following:

means the industry concerned with the manufacture and/or assembly and/or installation and/or repair of electrical lifts and escalators;

means the industry concerned with the conversion of thermoplastic and/or thermosetting polymers, including the compounding or recycling thereof, or the manufacture of articles or parts of articles wholly or mainly made of such polymers into rigid, semi-rigid or flexible form, whether blown, moulded, extruded, cast, injected, formed, calendared, coated, compression moulded or rotation moulded, including in-house printing on such plastics by the manufacturers, and all operations incidental to these activities.

"plastics "

means any one of the group of materials which consist of or contains as an essential ingredient an organic substance of a large molecular mass and which, while solid in the finished state, at some stage in its manufacture has been or can be forced, i.e. cast, calendared, extruded or moulded into various shape by flow, usually through the application, singly or together, of heat and pressure including the recycling or compounding thereof, but only where such compounding and/or recycling is as a result of the conversion for manufacture by the same employer, but shall exclude all extrusions into mono- and multi-filament fibres and other activities falling under the scope of the National Textile Bargaining Council.

means (subject to the provisions of any demarcation determination made in terms of clause 76 of  the Labour Relations Act, 1956 and/or section 62 of the Labour Relations Act 66/1995) the industry concerned with—

For the purposes of this definition—

means the reconditioning of internal combustion engines or parts thereof for use in motor vehicles in establishments mainly or exclusively so engaged, whether such establishment is engaged in the dismantling and repair of motor vehicles or not;

means any wheeled conveyance propelled by mechanical power (other than steam) or electrically, and designed for haulage and/or for the transportation of persons and/or goods and/or loads, and includes trailers and caravans, but does not include any equipment designed to run on fixed tracks, trailers designed to transport loads of 27 273 kilograms or over, or aircraft; and

means any or all of the following activities carried on in a vehicle body building establishment:

and for the purposes of this definition, "vehicle" does not include an aircraft, and "Motor Industry" as defined above does not include the following:

"jig" or "fixture" or "stop"

means a device which definitely locates the work with respect to a tool and/or a tool to the work and/or the relative position of parts while being joined together, so as to produce articles that are interchangeable within certain tolerances;

 

"journeyman"

means an employee who has completed a contract of apprenticeship under the Manpower Training Act, 1981, or a contract of apprenticeship recognised by the Council in any one of the classes of work specified under Rate A or category 5 in Schedule G or under Group Z in Schedule F of Part II of this Agreement, or an employee who is over 21 years of age and in possession of a certificate recognised or issued by the Council enabling him to be employed as a journeyman;

 

"juvenile"

means an employee between the age of 16 and 19 years employed on any of the classes of work specified in clause (a)(ii) of Schedule G of Part II of this Agreement;

 

"law"

includes common law;

 

"learnership"

means the period in which a graduated wage scale is provided for specific tasks performed over a period of time, and employees employed on operations that provide for learnership periods shall receive the graduated wage rate as specified in the operation(s) according to the period of time spent on the operation(s);

 

"Locksmithing Trade"

means the trade in which employers and employees are associated for the opening and closing of locks for others by means other than with keys normally used, the repair, replacement, re-building or adjustment of locks and their mechanical parts, the manufacture, by non-repetitive methods, of parts designed for use in locks and the cutting of keys, but excluding the manufacture of locks and keys;

 

"machine"

means any appliance, irrespective of the material of which it is made, but does not include an agricultural tractor;

 

"metal goods"

does not include agricultural tractors;

 

"n.e.s"

means not elsewhere specified;

 

"night shift"

means, subject to the definition herein covering "two-shift system" and "three-shift system", any period worked by an employee between the hours of 18:00 and 06:00, from starting time on Monday until starting time on Saturday, except in marine work where any three or more nights worked consecutively may constitute night-shift work;

 

"ordinary hourly rate"

means the hourly rate for ordinary time;

 

"precious metals"

means the precious metals gold, silver, platinum and/or palladium, and/or any alloy containing the said precious metals or any of these in such proportion with any other metals as to be the greater part in value of such alloy;

 

"public holiday"

means New Year"s Day, Human Rights Day, Good Friday, Family Day, Freedom Day, Workers" Day, Youth Day, National Women"s Day, Heritage Day, Day of Reconciliation, Christmas Day and Day of Goodwill, as specified in Schedule 1 of the Public Holidays Act, 1994 (Act 36 of 1994): Provided that whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be a public holiday;

 

"pupil engineer" and/or "approved student"

means a person who is in possession of educational qualifications recognised by the Council and obtained through an educational institution likewise recognised by the Council, but shall not include a person undergoing prescribed vocational training in the course of his studies;

 

Note:  The magisterial districts demarcation of Regions is only for purposes of determination of the borders of Regional Councils.

 

REGION A means the Western Cape Province and the Northern Cape Province but excluding the following magisterial districts in the Western Cape: Calitzdorp, Murraysburg, Oudtshoorn, and Uniondale and excluding the following magisterial districts in the Northern Cape:  Barkly West, De Aar, Gordonia, Hartswater, Herbert, Hopetown, Kimberley, Kuruman, Postmasburg and Warrenton, and for the purposes of these particular areas the address of the Regional Council shall be: Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (Cape Region), P O Box 6096, Roggebaai, 8012, or 1st Floor, Harbour Place, 7 Martin, Hammerschlag Way, Foreshore, Cape Town, 8001;

 

REGION B means the following magisterial districts in the Eastern Cape Province:  Albert, Aliwal North, Barkly East, Bizana, Butterworth, Cala, Cathcart, Cofimvaba East London, Elliot, Engcobo, Flagstaff, Hoffmeyer, Idutywa, Indwe, Keiskammahoek, Kentani, King William"s Town, Kwabhaca, Komga, Lady Grey, Libode, Lusikisiki,  Maclear, Matatiele, Mdantsane, Middelsdrift, Mount Ayliff, Mount Fletcher, Mqanduli, Ngqeleni, Nqamakwe, Queenstown, Qumbu, Seymour (Mpofu), Sterkstroom, Stutterheim, Tsolo, Tsomo, Umtata, Umzimkulu, Whittlesea, Willowvale, Wodehouse, Victoria East and Zwelitsha and for the purposes of these particular areas, the address of the Regional Council shall be: Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council  (Border Region), PO Box 13162, Vincent, 5217, or Malcomess Park, Office No 7, St Georges Road, Southernwood, 5201.

 

REGION C means the Province of KawZulu Natal and for the purposes of this particular area the address of the Regional Council shall be:  Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (KwaZulu Natal Region), P O Box 5900, Durban, 4000, or 14th Floor, Mercury House, 320 Smith Street, Durban, 4001.

 

REGION D means the following magisterial districts in the Eastern Cape Province: Aberdeen, Adelaide, Albany, Alexandra, Bathurst, Bedford, Cradock, Fort Beaufort, Graaff-Reinet, Hankey, Humansdorp, Jansenville, Joubertina, Kirkwood, Middleburg, Pearston, Port Elizabeth, Somerset East, Steytlerville, Steynsburg, Uitenhage, Venterstad and Willowmore and the following magisterial districts in the Western Cape Province: Calitzdorp, Murraysburg, Oudtshoorn, Uniondale, and the following magisterial districts in the Northern Cape Province: Colesburg, Hanover, Noupoort and Richmond and for the purposes of these particular areas the address of the Regional Council shall be: Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (Midland Region), PO Box 12848, Centrahill, 6006, or 6th Floor, Old Mutual Building, 64 Govan Mbeki Avenue, Port Elizabeth, 6001.

 

REGION E means all the magisterial districts in the Gauteng Province, Mpumalanga Province, Northern Province (Limpopo) and North West Province, but excludes the following magisterial districts in the North West Province:  Bloemhof, Christiana, Coligny, Delareyville, Klerksdorp, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom, Schweizer-Reneke,Ventersdorp, Vryburg and Wolmaransstad, and for the purposes of these particular areas the address of the Regional Council shall be: Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (Gauteng Region), PO Box 3998, Johannesburg, 2000 or Union Corporation Building, 1st Floor, 77 Marshall Street, Johannesburg, 2001.”

 

REGION F means all the magisterial districts in the Free State and includes the following magisterial districts in the North West Province: Bloemhof, Christiana, Coligny, Delareyville, Klerksdorp, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom, Schweizer-Reneke, Ventersdorp, Vryburg and Wolmaransstad, and includes the following magisterial districts in the Northern Cape Province: Barkly West, De Aar, Gordonia, Hartswater, Herbert, Hopetown, Kimberley, Kuruman, Postmasburg, and Warrenton, and for the purposes of these particular areas the address of the Regional Council shall be: Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (Free State and Northern Cape Region), PO Box 30095, Moreskof, 9462, or Wessels & Smith Building, 2nd Floor, 26 – 28 Heeren Street, Welkom, 9459.

 

"repetition work"

means work performed by an employee constantly engaged on one or more repetitive processes;

 

"templet"

means a device for indicating the position of holes and/or attachments on the work and/or the form and/or contour of work;

 

"temporary employment service"

means any person who, for reward, procures for or provides to a client other persons—

 

"trainee"

means an employee under training in terms of clause 30 of the Manpower Training Act, 1981, on work classified at Rate A or Category 5 in Schedule G or under Group Z in Schedule F of Part II in this Agreement or an employee under training in terms of the provisions of a contract issued or recognised by the Council, which includes contracts under the Artisan Training and Recognition Agreement for the Metal and Engineering Industries, as published under Government Notice R.1706 of 13 August 1982, enabling such employee to be employed on work classified at Rate A or Category 5 in this Agreement, or work classified in Group Z in Schedule F of this Agreement;

 

"two-shift" and/or "three-shift system"

means the methods of operation in establishments working two or three shifts in any period of 24 hours for not less than three months in a single period;

 

"Venetian Blind" and "Allied Products Manufacturing Industry"

means the industry in which employers and the employees are associated for the carrying on of any one or more of the following activities in the Province of the Transvaal:

The design and/or assembly and/or manufacture of—